1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing technology for joining together multiple scenes extracted from video images.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has long been the need to be able to understand quickly the contents of lengthy video images. To respond to this need, a variety of methods are used to produce “digest videos” (summaries) by extracting multiple representative scenes (images) from the moving image and joining together these representative scenes. For example, the Patent Document 1, listed below, discloses a technology for producing a summary through detecting the positions of changes in status in images, sounds, subtitles, etc., in the video images for the contents of video images stored on a DVD, and then, based on the detected position information, extracting several representative scenes from the video image. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H10-232884 can be listed as one aspect of such a technology.
In this technology, a digest video wherein the representative scenes have been joined together automatically is a video image that is edited to be shorter than the original video image. Through viewing this digest video, the viewer is able to get an idea of the content of the original video image.
However, in this type of digest image, no thought has been given whatsoever to how the various scenes are joined together, so there is a problem in that the digest video is difficult to watch. One reason for this is that there is no effective process performed for the scene changes because the editing simply joins together various scenes which are unrelated to each other in terms of the content of the video images. Consequently, in order to effectively join together the various scenes, the user has had to set up transition effects after looking at the earlier and later scenes, requiring complex operations. On the other hand, adding new scenes by which to perform specific effects at the scene change parts in order to improve the look extends the overall playback time duration of the digest video. Consequently, it is difficult to add new images when the playback time duration for the digest video has been established in advance.